Bloomfield Farms® introduced a new line of products, including a baking mix and selection of packaged pre-baked buns, rolls and sandwich bread, free of the eight most common food allergens, at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. The company is targeting restaurants as well as grocery suppliers, and its products are shipped globally.
“We began offering gluten-free products in 2011, and it was a natural progression for us to eliminate more allergens to meet a growing demand in the marketplace,” said Matt Elder, Bloomfield Farms president.
The mix can be used for pizza dough, bread, buns, bread sticks, pie dough, tortillas, cookies, cake and other baked products. It’s available in 25- and 50-pound bags. Pre-baked packaged products include hot dog buns, jumbo hamburger buns, classic hamburger buns, sandwich bread, slider buns, hoagie rolls and dinner rolls.
“We’ve worked hard to create a patent-pending formula free of the top eight allergens—gluten, eggs, dairy, fish, peanuts, soy, shellfish and tree nuts—that tastes great while giving people what they expect from baked products,” Elder explained.
“The challenge lies in maintaining outstanding texture and taste while removing those allergens, because each component present in traditional formulations plays an important role in the end product,” he continued.
“For example, gluten provides strength and texture in wheat bread, but it’s a problem for people with celiac disease or a wheat allergy. You can add eggs to gluten-free flour for strength, but eggs are also an allergen. Our unique formula overcomes these kinds of obstacles, and the end-product indistinguishable from its with-allergen counterpart.”
People with food allergies are a sizable portion of the population.
According to the booklet Food Allergy: An Overview, published by the National Institutes of Health, almost 1 in 20 children under age 5 and almost 1 in 25 adults are allergic to at least one food. Reactions can include anaphylaxis, a dangerous allergic reaction whose most severe symptoms restrict breathing and blood circulation. The brochure explains that a food allergy can affect the whole family because of the anxiety that a loved one may accidentally eat a food that could lead to a reaction.
Bloomfield Farms’ 15,000-square-foot plant in Bardstown, Ky., has been tested and certified as gluten-free by the Celiac Sprue Association (CSA), a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals with celiac disease. The facility also meets the standards of the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO), an industry program of the Gluten Intolerance Group, a nonprofit organization that helps people with celiac disease and other gluten-related disorders.
